Story:

Analysis:

The picture message claims to show a machine at Beijing Subway by which passengers supposedly pay their Cab transport using Plastic Bottles. Although it conveys some misinformation, it is a fact.

The machine shown in the picture is actually a reverse vending recycling machine that was deployed at Shaoyaoju station on Line 10 of the Beijing Subway, on 20 December 2012. Using this recycling machine, the Beijing metro passengers can recycle used bottles and receive between 5 and 15 cents per bottle, or they can even load money on to their swipe cards for recharging their transport cards.

Reverse vending recycling machine deployed at Shaoyaoju station of Beijing

Reverse Vending Machine

A reverse vending machine is a device which accepts empty, used beverage containers and returns money to the user. These machines are in fact popular in places having mandatory recycling laws or container deposit legislation.

When a user puts in a used container or a plastic bottle, it is scanned for usage. If it is a one time use container, it is typically crushed to reduce the size and increase the storage capacity, while the reusable containers are collected and sorted by hand, sending them back to the bottling company.

Similar Machine

Importance

The Chinese capital Beijing has started this innovative recycling of plastic to increase awareness among people and protect the environment. Good job isn’t it, considering the fact that plastic containers like these take 50-80 years to decompose, spoiling our environment. There are also many other consumer wastes that do not decompose easily, a list of which you can read here.

We people can live a healthy life only when our environment is healthy, so it is important for us to handle these wastes wisely. We need more of such recycling machines throughout the world.